Connecting-rail for alining railway-rails.



No. 774,361. v PATENTED NOV. 8, 1904.

A. H. MULLIKBN.

GONNEGTING RAIL FOR ALINING RAILWAY RAILS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 17. 1904.

N0 MODEL.

Mam.

UNTTED STA s Patented November 8, 1904.

PATENT rerun,

CONNECTING-RAIL FOR ALINING RAILWAY-RAILS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 774,361, dated November 8, 1904:.

Application filed September 1'7, 1904. Serial No. 224,840. (No model) To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALFRED H. MULLIKEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Connecting-Rails for Alining Rail- \vayRails, of which the following is a specitication.

My invention relates to an improved construction of junction-rail for connecting alining rails of differential cross-sectional area in a railway-track. In connecting such railwayrails endwise through the medium of an interposed rail the natural requirement is that the junction-rail shall efiect a gradual merging into each other of the rails joined by it to present to the rolling-stock smooth transition from the rails of one cross-sectional area to those of the other such area, and the obviously essential condition of the ends of the junctionrail is that of conformity of the cross-sectional area of its head atone end to the crosssectional area of the head of the larger of the two rails to be joined and at its opposite end to that of the head of the smaller of the two rails, so that the top surfaces of the heads of the two joined rails and their connecting medium and their inner side surfaces shall respectively aline to present even surfaces to the treads and flanges of the wheels of the rolling-stock moving upon them. This purposeis accomplished in the prior art by employing for the connecting-rail a rail-section having cross-sectional dimensions corresponding originally throughout with those of the larger or heavier of the two rails to be joined by it, reducing it toward one end to conform to the latter in cross-sectional area at the end of the lighter of the two rails, and forming the intermediate portion of the junction-rail on an incline upon its bottom and outer side for merging into each other the reduced and original-sized sections. To produce a junctionrail by diminishing the cross-sectionaldimensions of the rail from which it is formed toward one end requires preparatory heating of the portion of the rail to be so reduced, as by swaging it in dies. The molecular structure of a railway-rail is liable to be impaired by heating it, the tendency being to weaken it at different points, and consequently the greater the length of the rail which is subjected to the heat the greater is liable tobe the number of points of weakness in the reduced section of the rail. In the construction of junction-rail referred to this weakening of the rail structure is liable to occur in the section thereof formed with the tapered or inclined bottom, which necessarily extends between ties, the shape precluding the reinforcement of the weakened part by setting a tie underneath it, so that it remains unsupported at that part. Moreover, the provision of the aforesaid tapered section necessarily requires that aconsiderable length of the reduced section be provided beyond it, thereby increasing accordingly the liability to weakened points in the rail due to the extent thereof subjected to heat.

The primary object of my invention is to avoid the incline on the under side of the intermediate portion of the junction-rail. This I accomplish by forming transversely in the under side of the rail a shoulder perpendicular to its length and so reducing the rail from the shoulder to the end which is required to conform in cross-sectional area to that of the smaller of the two track-rails to be connected as to cause the under side of the connecting-rail to lie in two parallel straight planes with the aforesaid shoulder between them. The advantages of this construction are, besides greater facility in manufacture, that a tie or sleeper may be laid directly in the offsetformedby the shoulder to reinforce the rail at that point and that the reduced section of the connecting-rail need not be made longer than about one-half the length of the fish-plate employed for splicing together the reduced section of the connecting-rail and the smaller of the two rails to be connected by it, thereby reducing to the minimum the possible number of points in that section liable to be rendered'weak by the heating.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a section of a railroad-track employing rails of the heavier and lighter varieties connected by means of my improvement; Fig. 2, a View of the same in side elevation; Fig. 3, a cross-section taken at the line 3 on Fig. 2 and viewed in the direction l of the arrow; and Fig. i a cross-section taken at the line i on Fig. 2 and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

At A A are represented the two rails of larger cross-sectional area in a railway-track, and at B B are represented the two rails of smaller cross-sectional area therein.

C C are the two connecting-rails. The junction-rail C is formed, preferably, from a rail-section of the cross-sectional dimensions of a rail A and is reduced toward one end, as by swaging it in a heated condition in suitable dies, to the condition in which it is represented, wherein the head (a is narrowed from the point t to its extremity to the width of the head of the respective rail B, while it is left in its original condition of correspondingin cross-sectional dimensions with the head of the respective rail A from its opposite end to the point t. \Vhile it is not necessary for my purpose that the web 6 and flanges o c of the rail C shall be reduced, the swaging operation with the dies employed. is facilitated by reducing those parts, as represented, from the point t. The further action of the dies in the swaging operation is to form in the under side of the rail C at the point t an offset or shoulder (Z, perpendicular or approxi mately perpendicular to the length of the rail, with rounded outer and inner corners .s' and a, to avoid angular bends in the structures, which tend to weakness, and the bottom of the thus vertically narrowed section of the juntion-rail is straight from the corner s to its extremity. It is desirable in forming the reduced section of the junction-rail C to widen vertically the space between its head and flange to correspond with the vertical width of space between the head and flange of the respective rail B in order that the ordinary straight fish-plate, shown as an anglebar a, used forsplieing the rails C and B, may lit into both said spaces. This may be done in the swaging operation by offsetting the head 0/ on its under sides to the end of the reduced section of the junction-rail from a point, as at 0;, preferably behind the point t, to avoid weakening the rail by forming the two offsets (Z and w coincidently.

By providing the shoulders (Z in the rails G a tie D may be placed, as represented, under the latter against the shoulders, with the effect of stably supporting the rails immediately at these points and avoiding the extension, hereinbefore referred to, of the reduced parts of the junction-rails unsupported be tween ties. Other ties may be placed, as at l), at properly uniform or desired intervals under the heavier sections of the rails (1.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A connecting-rail for alining railwayrails of differential cross-sectional area, consisting of a rail corresponding in cross-sectional area at its opposite ends respectively with the larger and smaller rails between which it extends, said rail being reduced toward one end with its under sidelying in two parallel straight planes with an abrupt shoulder between them.

2. A connecting-rail for alining railwayrails of differential cross-sectional area, consisting of two portions integral with each other, having a substantially vertical shoulder in the base fori'ning the end of the larger portion adjacent to the smaller portion, the outer ends of said portions conforming substantially to those of the rails to be connected.

3. A connecting-rail for alining railwayrails of differential cross-sectional area, consisting of a rail corresponding in crosssec tional area at its opposite ends respectively with the larger and smaller rails between whichit extends, said rail being reduced along both sides toward one end and the under side of said rail lying in two parallel planes with an abrupt shoulder between them having rounded inner and outer corners.

at. A connecting-rail for alining railwayrails of differential cross-sectional area, consisting of a rail corresponding in cross-sectional area at its opposite ends respectively with the larger and smaller rails between which it extends, said rail being reduced toward one end with its under side lying in two parallel straight planes with a shoulder between them, and the space between the head. and base of the reduced. section of said rail being widened to correspond with the width of space between the head and base of said smaller rail.

5. A connecting-rail for alining railwayrails of differential cross-sectional area, consisting of a rail corresponding in cross-sectional area at its opposite ends respectively with the larger and smaller rails between which it extends, said rail being reduced along both sides toward one end, the under side of sa-idrail lying in two parallel planes with a perpendicular shoulder between them, and the space between the head and base of the reduced section of said rail being widened from a point at one side of the plane of said shoulder to correspond with the width of space between the head and base of said smaller rail.

ALFRED H. MULLIKEN.

In presence of' W'ALTER N. XVINBERG, M. S. MAGKENZIE. 

